BY: JEWEL NG, NOR ZAFIRAH ISMAIL, CHERYL CHUA
According to the National Arts Council (NAC), over half of the estimated 300 buskers in Singapore are below the age of 35 in 2017. With the rise of young buskers taking on the streets everyday, we find out what goes on behind the scenes of being a young street singer in Singapore - with the help of Ken Loh, Words Within and the Moon House.
Ken Loh, 22, is a former busker with over three years of experience, often performing along the streets of Wisma Atria. He concluded his busking journey on 19 May 2018 as he embarks on newer things in his life. Words Within is a duo consisting of Ong Jing Ting and Joshua Wee, both 22, who met in secondary school six years ago and has officially busked together for eight months, after performing in bars and gigs. The Moon House is a duo consisting of Rachel and Genevieve, both 21, who met in polytechnic and have busked together for 11 months.
What these three performers have in common, aside from musical talent, is the passion to express their artistry and creativity to the public. To them, it is more of a platform to showcase their creative freedom, rather than an avenue to potentially gain recognition and fame.
Obtaining the Busking License
As of now, the Busking Scheme comprises of 80 designated busking locations islandwide. Buskers in Singapore are required to go for an audition to ensure consistency in the quality of busking activities. Those successful will obtain a Busking Card, also known as a Letter of Endorsement, which will enable them to busk at designated sites within a validity period. This is in line with The Exemption Order to the Public Entertainments and Meetings Act, which indicates that only buskers issued with a valid Letter of Endorsement are allowed to busk.
Contrary to popular belief, getting the license to busk is not as difficult as it seems.
“There were some paperwork to be done, but after we actually went for the audition, it was pretty smooth and quite easy to get the license,” Jing Ting said.
The Good and the Bad
When we think of singing - or the creative industry in general - many assume that Singaporeans are not as receptive and positively responsive to it. However, that is not the case as many of the Singaporean audience have shown to be supportive and appreciative of musical talents.
“I thought (busking) would be a short-lived thing (for me) because maybe people wouldn’t be so receptive but then it grew to be something so big and beyond me,” said Ken Loh, 22, former busker.
Ong Jing Ting of Words Within added: “No one is going to be like, oh you missed a note, or oh your voice went off.”
Some also join in with the buskers to sing along with them and even dance to their music.
Busking is also an outlet for performers to express their creativity and gain confidence.
Ken takes pride in his unique style and setup, mentioning that: “I put in a lot of effort in taking my busking set up as a stage and looking at it from the perspective of a listener.”
“I really like the fact that busking isn’t just about music. I’ve seen people play like special instruments, they do acts, they dance. I’ve also seen like young kids, they start to do things like magic. That’s really interesting because for me, I feel that this is a platform for people to gain confidence as you are putting yourself out there, you are letting people judge you so you just start building that confidence up,” Jing Ting said.
Then, the profits come in. “It is very much a service based kinda thing whereby there is no base salary. I would say compared to regular jobs, it’s comparable if you busk diligently and as regularly as I did, I mean in that sense it was sustainable to a certain extend,” Ken mentioned.
Like anything else, there are challenges.
Apart from the unpredictable weather which is inevitable, Ken struggles most with dealing with the fact that there is a stigma about how buskers are sometimes viewed as beggars. “There’s always the struggle of justifying whether I’m a full-time busker, if that is a legitimate source of income, legitimate thing to do in general. For me, I saw it as a job, as a way of making money, as a way of making art. So I think the biggest struggle is getting people to realise that busking is a job, something that should be held in the same regard as someone holding a regular job,” Ken said.
A busking license is important for many reasons, one being that it secures you a spot to perform in and evenly spreads out buskers so that there is no mix-up or conflict in busking locations.
“There are people who don’t have the licence and they busk at any place they want to. So they busk at those locations that are already full and I felt bad because there are old people out there who really rely on busking, they busk at the same spot everyday like for the past 20 years, and then there are new people who come in and they don’t have the licence, but they take their spots. That’s kind of the bad thing about busking because there is nobody that actually goes around to check whether you have a licence or not,” said Jing Ting.
With the rise of young buskers on the streets now, it poses a bigger challenge to stand out from the rest.
Ken recalled the time where there was a massive influx of buskers along the streets of Orchard Road back in 2017. He added: “It was a bit of a struggle to stand out, as there were a lot of hurdles such as how there would be this new guy that you have never seen before then next week there is another new guy. I mean over time, time filters out people who weren’t doing it, to me, for the right reason.”
Family Support
Fortunately for Ken and the duo from Words Within, their parents and family have always been supportive of their musical talents.
Ken mentioned: “Although there are no musicians in the family, (my parents) are very supportive of extracurricular activities from young. So there are 4 kids in the family and all of us do sports, arts and things like that so from a very young age, it was instilled in us that it was very important to do something outside of what was taught in school.” He added: “Monetarily, I had very little help from my parents. I made sure that everything that I have, I bought it myself. So everything that I made went back to busking. That cumulatively made to grow into a big sum of money which I was able to afford bigger and better things.”
On the contrary, the parents of the girls from the Moon House did not start out being supportive and were skeptical at first. As time passed by, their parents grew to be more accomodating of their daughters’ choice to want to busk.
Tips on Taking the First Step
Despite the challenges faced by these buskers, they encouraged those who are interested in busking or just need that bit of a push to pursue busking. Rachel mentioned, “Have fun with it because if you turn it into something that you are stressed about then there is no point in doing it,” adding that “I think when you are not having fun with it, people can tell.”
Often, people are so critical and unforgiving to themselves but Jing Ting mentioned, “Do not be afraid to make mistakes.” Performing live in front of a crowd can be nerve wrecking but onlookers are often supportive and will not pinpoint on little mistakes.
With the recent release of his own Extended Play (EP) and a performance due to happen on 29 December 2018, Ken is one of the more esteemed buskers in Singapore. With over three years of experience, he emphasised on the importance of having good values and being kind to people. He added: “I think looking back, a lot of the opportunities that I was given was because I put the effort into treating people properly and being nice and being kind towards strangers. At the end of the day, the music industry, or any industry in general, everything is by networking. Talent can only bring you so far.”
Photos + Captions
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INDIE SOUL: The Moon House enjoys performing acoustic indie songs such as those by Foster the People and Vance Joy. (PHOTO BY: Tammy Tan)
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A STAGE ALONG ORCHARD ROAD: Ken Loh takes pride in ensuring that his set up would make his music be heard loud and clear to the audience. He treats it like a stage when performing for the onlookers. (PHOTO BY: Hasyir Ibrahim)
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FINAL GOODBYE TO ORCHARD ROAD: Ken Loh had his last busking session after 3 years alongside with other fellow buskers on 19 May 2018 outside Wisma Atria. PHOTO BY: KIT KAT KIAT
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BUZZY SUNDAY: Words Within, consisting of Jing Ting Ong and Joshua Wee, performed in front of Paya Lebar MRT station during the lunch hour. (PHOTO BY: NOR ZAFIRAH)
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KEEPING UP WITH THE MUSIC CHARTS: The duo often performs popular pop songs in Singapore from artists such as Sam Smith, Adele and Ed Sheeran. (PHOTO BY: NOR ZAFIRAH)
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CAPTURING THE MOMENT: The crowd was enjoying the performance while recording them. (PHOTO BY: NOR ZAFIRAH)
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SHOWING SUPPORT: The tips received from busking varies and depends on the location and timing. (PHOTO BY: NOR ZAFIRAH)
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